Story Time
by Berrie Salamander
Summary: Late one night in the common room, James decides to tell three impressionable young Gryffindors - Al, Rose and Scorpius - a fantasy story that may have more truth in it than they thought.


**This story is a request from my good friend Jennie, as part of her birthday present, since today is her birthday. So, Happy 16th Birthday Jennie! :)**

It was nearing midnight, and the Gryffindor Common Room was almost completely empty. As it was only the middle of September, most students weren't behind on their homework yet. Except for three young first years all crowded around the fireplace, uncountable scrolls of parchment laid out in front of them. The blond haired boy was staring unblinkingly at the parchment in his hands, his mind clearly elsewhere, and the black haired boy kept writing the same sentence and scribbling it out again. The red headed girl, on the other hand, had her eyes firmly focused on her homework, her hand flying across the parchment.

"Done," she said, rolling up her homework, a slightly smug look on her face. "How are you two doing?"

"Not so good," said the blond boy. "Will you let us have a look at yours now, Rose? I really can't do this, and neither can Al by the looks of it."

"If you haven't made anymore progress in the next half an hour I'll help you," she promised him. He sat up a little straighter, a disbelieving look on his face.

"Any_more _progress? I haven't even started it yet!"

"Scorpius!" Rose exclaimed. "Maybe my dad was right, maybe you will drag me down, maybe I shouldn't hang out with you or Al anymore."

"Oh come on Rose," Scorpius sighed. "You know I don't often ask for homework help, that I like to stay as independent as possible."

Rose's expression softened considerably. "Alright, you can have a quick look. Just don't copy it word for word."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he replied as he took the scroll off Rose, just as Albus cried "I'm your cousin! You should let me copy first! I can't do this essay to save my life!"

"I'm sure you'll copy off your best friend," Rose scoffed. "You two can give that back to me at breakfast tomorrow. I'm going to go to bed, its way too late for –"

"And what are two impressionable young Gryffindors and an out of place Malfoy doing up this late at night?"

Rose rolled her eyes. James was strolling towards them from the direction of the portrait hole, the invisibility cloak bundled in his arms.

"Hi James," said Albus wearily. "Please don't insult my friend."

"I was merely making an observation," James shrugged.

"You are so annoying," Rose said to him. James simply beamed at her in return.

"Where were you anyway, Potter?" Scorpius half snapped.

"None of your business, Malfoy," James replied, and he sat down in one of the armchairs nearest the three first years. "Doing homework, are we?"

"None of your business," Rose said at the same time Albus piped up: "We're doing Potions homework."

"Ah, that's good. Seeing the three of you slave over homework almost inspires me to do some myself," James sighed.

"Why are you still talking to us?" Scorpius demanded.

"Just trying to be friendly!" James exclaimed. "Good grief, you are temperamental."

"Well, if you're done being friendly," said Scorpius pointedly. "You better go. I've got a lot of work to cop – to look over."

Rose glared at Scorpius for a second, but said nothing.

"You three look like you need a bit of a bedtime story to cheer you up," James said. "And who knows, it might help with your potions homework."

Albus raised an eyebrow. "How will a bedtime story help with an essay on the effects of a forgetfulness potion?"

"Easy," James replied. "You'll probably forget all about this story by tomorrow, and thus be able to fully describe the effects of the potion."

"Lets hear it then," Rose sighed. "You're obviously dying to tell us a story, though I'm not sure why."

"All will become clear," James replied. "Okay. Finally, I've got an audience! Once upon a time there were three young Gryffindors. There names were Albus Potter, Rose Weasley, and Scorpius Malfoy."

"Couldn't you at least try to disguise the fact that they're us?" Scorpius said while still looking over Rose's homework.

"Alright. There were once three young Gryffindors called Voldemort, Bellatrix Lestrange and Gilderoy Lockhart –"

"Okay, okay, you've made your point," said Scorpius hurriedly. "Just get on with the story."

"One beautiful summer's day, the three friends were set up by the dastardly older brother of Albus, James Potter. Now, James was witty and handsome –" Scorpius and Rose snorted. "– but he was also very cunning, and mad at his brother for befriending a Malfoy. So he flooded the corridor outside the Headmaster's office, and framed the three of them. They were given a most terrible punishment, one that would have made even the old caretaker cackle with glee. The three of them were tasked with returning the Sword of Gryffindor to the school, as it had been stolen ten years previously by an evil creature known as a Scamander. All they knew was that the sword now lay in a cave just outside Hogsmeade, one that was now guarded by the spawn of Scamander, the Scamander Twins."

James paused for breath, giving Scorpius a chance to cut in.

"This sounds absolutely ridiculous. Can we go now?"

"No! I haven't finished. Anyway, this was the mission given to them by the angry headmaster. The next morning they were excused from lessons and set off towards Hogsmeade village. Apart from the Scamander Twins at the end, they assumed their mission would be easy. They were wrong. The evil two headed entity that was the Scamander Twins had been notified of their approach by one of Albus and Rose's relatives, Lucy Weasley, and had set a series of challenges for the inexperienced first years. At the gates of Hogwarts they came across a fully grown dragon!"

"Oh come on," Rose interrupted. "A fully grown dragon? This story isn't realistic at all, James!"

James merely grinned. "You'll soon see how realistic it is," he told her, before plunging back into his story. "Thankfully, the first year called Rose was already well practiced in some attack spells, but before she had a chance to try any of them on the dragon Scorpius grabbed her hand in one of his hands, and Albus's in the other, and together the three of them ran underneath the dragon and out of the gates. They looked back in time to see the dragon disintegrate. It had failed in its task to destroy them. In Hogsmeade village, however, they were not so lucky. As they drew level with the Three Broomsticks, a whole host of Inferi, previous victims of the Scamanders, appeared, and before the three of them could really react, the Inferi had devoured Scorpius."

There were mixed reactions to this. Scorpius looked up from his homework and cried "Oi!", Albus gave his brother an incredulous look, while Rose simply said "I don't think Inferi eat people, James."

"Whatever. Point is, Scorpius was now dead, and Rose was very upset, because she had been looking forward to dating him when she was older so that she could annoy her dad."

"What?" Scorpius said sharply.

"Excuse me?" Rose added, goggling at James.

"Relax guys, it's just a story," Albus reminded them.

"What Al said. So, Rose was crying at the most inconvenient of times, because the Inferi were coming closer. Before they could claim the lives of Albus and Rose, however, they were saved by the arrival of Teddy Lupin who was in Hogsmeade to visit Victoire Weasley. He stepped in front of Albus and Rose, and cast the spell that created fire from his wand tip, which drove the Inferi away. When they were gone, Teddy left too, because Victoire was waiting. Albus and Rose continued on their way, both of them a little upset about Scorpius's death, but coping. They left Hogsmeade without further interruptions, and within half an hour they had reached the foot of the mountain. But now they were met by Albus's witty, handsome and cunning brother James, who was deeply regretting what had happened since he framed them, since it had resulted in the death of Scorpius, though he wasn't so upset about that part –"

"You're horrible," Scorpius said.

"And you're rambling," Albus said. "Get on with the story, I'm getting tired."

"Sorry. Well, as I said, James was sorry for most of what he'd caused, and to compensate said he would help them get the Sword of Gryffindor, as he alone out of the three of them knew where the cave was. And so –"

This time, James was cut off by the sound of the portrait hole opening. A second later Professor Byram, the Charms teacher, came walking into the common room, a grim expression on his face.

"I would like a word with you three," he said, gesturing Albus, Rose and Scorpius. "About the flooding down the corridor by the headmaster's office."

"I think I'll go to my bed," James said quietly. As he walked towards the door to the boy's dormitory, he added. "I told you there was a realistic element to that story."

Albus, Scorpius and Rose exchanged horrified glances, before they abandoned their half finished homework and reluctantly followed Professor Byram out of the common room.

It wasn't as bad as James's story, in the end. They managed to convince the teachers that James was responsible, and he received a week's worth of detention. Scorpius and Albus managed to finish their homework on time. The only thing missing, Albus felt, was that he wanted to know how the story ended. But he didn't feel like asking James any time soon.

**I know that this is extremely random. Sorry if you just read that and thought what? Blame Jennie ;)**


End file.
